Super Netball: Malawi star Mwai Kumwenda eager to see Vixens dance

Mwai Kumwenda danced off the Commonwealth Games court after Malawi’s shock win over the Silver Ferns.

Malawi netballer Mwai Kumwenda hopes to carry her form from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games into the new season with the Melbourne Vixens. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Mwai Kumwenda danced her way off the court in victory three weeks ago as her Malawi team unexpectedly became one of the feel-good stories of the Commonwealth Games thanks to their stunning four-goal upset of New Zealand.

Kumwenda was instrumental in the Queens’ victory, shooting 41 of 46 goals and helping her teammates fight off the Ferns.

“She has barely shut up since the Commonwealth Games,” laughed Melbourne Vixens coach Simone McKinnis.

As for Kumwenda’s verdict on the boilover, she answered with a satisfied grin: “Yeah, that was good”.

And she’s now set to carry that rhythm straight into the Super Netball season. The Vixens attack scorched their way through last season en route to the minor premiership, leading the league with an average of 62 goals a match. The next best team was closer to fifth than first.

While veteran goal attack Tegan Philip played her part, the main avenue to goal for the Vixens was clear. Kumwenda isn’t a particularly tall shooter but an explosive leap made her borderline unstoppable under a steady stream of high balls.

“There’s no other player like her,” said Shelley Haynes, the current chief executive of Netball Northern Territory, who gave Kumwenda her first start in Australia eight years ago while working at Melbourne’s Peninsula Waves. “Defenders have trouble guarding her because they have no idea what she’s going to do next.”

Haynes spent a year wading through red tape to extract Kumwenda from Malawi, and was waiting at the airport with a toy koala when the star import finally arrived. Kumwenda finally got her break in elite netball in New Zealand but never forgot watching the Vixens train in Melbourne. They were her “dream team”, and she’s loving being back.

It’s all a world away from the tiny African village she calls home.

Malawi lacks a single professional-grade netball court, and young girls often play with balls of sheets wrapped in twine. After the national team’s historic Games campaign, players returned their gear to be re-used at the next tournament. “Everything we wear for the Queens we always give back. We can play in those shoes for 10 years,” Kumwenda explained.

But Kumwenda is a committed professional — as soon as she steps on the court “it’s business time”. The phrase she repeats most about her career is “hard work”.

However, there’s another side to her that few get to see: the cheeky player who loves a laugh, and still sends Mother’s Day messages to every one of the Australian mums who have accepted her as a host daughter during her lengthy stints abroad.

As for the Malawian dance celebrations, Kumwenda wants to teach her fellow Vixens a similar routine — but only if they end the 2018 season with the Super Netball trophy in hand.